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The other day I was going through my book shelf to add more books that I’ve read to my goodreads read shelf. I shocked myself at how quickly I got through it and started to think of books that I read and didn’t own. At first, I started to think about the journey that my books may have made – did I sell the book on half.com, had I borrowed it from someone? Was it part of a collection? Had it gotten lost somewhere. Being a concrete thinker who loves statistics, I decided to come up with a ratio – and this ratio is called the Shelf Ratio.
Like any good ratio, it comes with a few friends. I’ve decided to outline those ratios and explain what they might tell you about yourself:
The Shelf Ratio: The amount of books you own and have on shelves (lost or in boxes don’t count) divided by the number of books you’ve read.
The Wanting Ratio: The amount of books you haven’t read and have on your shelf divided by the number of books you have on your shelf that you have read
The Pack-Rat Ratio: The amount of books you do not plan on reading again that are on your shelves divided by the amount of books you do plan on reading again that are on your shelves.
The Good-Friend Ratio: The amount of books you have lent out divided by the amount of books you are currently borrowing.
To share a bit about me, I will share with you my ratios:
My Shelf Ratio: 20%. I’m a big fan of borrowing/renting books. As well, most of the books I get, I don’t want to keep, so I resell.
My Wanting Ratio: 30%. This is very high, but mainly because I keep my shelf so slim.
My Pack-Rat Ratio: 20%. The only reason I hold onto a book is if I wish to read it or if I wish to give it to someone else.
My Good-Friend Ratio: Ignoring the books my wife has “lent” me to read, I’m on a 10:1 or 1000%. I am pretty quick to lend a book to a friend, but between my lack of time and my BookSwim membership, I tend not to need to borrow books.
What are your ratios?
Some milestones and what they mean:
Wanting Ratio > 50%: START READING!
Pack-Rat Ratio > 100%: Get rid of those excess books. Sell them, lend them to friends, that’s good books being wasted!
Good-Friend ratio < 50%: Read and return those books to your friends, and hand out your old books to friends as gifts!
-Nick
DCMerkle
/ November 12, 2009I have a book shelf that is much like yours, but I am not as concrete in the thinking as you are. I have a simple routine for keeping my books in order. I am a pack rat, but there are times when even my disorder screams for some semblance of order.
Over the years I have become more discerning with the books that just seem to just find their way into my hands. If it’s an author that I am familiar with the book has just earned a spot on my shelf. If it was a book that I saw recommended from a newspaper write-up, a review on a website, or just mentioned in passing from a friend, it to finds a place on my shelf. If it is a book from the list, that I carry with me when I go to a flea market, used bookstore, Goodwill or a second hand shop, the book finds a place on my shelf.
After awhile, usually when my bookshelf has runneth over, I will take a look at what I have and go to my list and see if the books that I have meet what I had originally wanted them for. For example, were the books part of a series that I am collecting? Are they of my favorite author? Are the children’s books, that I am collecting from my childhood to read to my future grandchildren, really from my childhood? Are the single novel books from authors ones that I was really interested in and last, but not least, are the non-fiction books really of subjects or topics that I will have time to really get into? There are some smaller questons to all of this, but if a majority of the answers are “no” then they go into a box for donation or credit at my used bookstore. The one factor that I use when I am packing the boxes is, if the dust on the book is thicker than the eraser on my pencil, then I have made the right decision in finding another home for the book.
When all that is done and I can actually see shelf space then I am satisfied that I can now go out and “Get Some More Books!”